VISITING ARTIST::: JOHN THOMPSON (USA) Director of Distribution at New Yorks
Electronic Arts Intermix. HYPERLINK "http://www.eai.org/"www.eai.org
Public interview in IFI with John Thomson by new media Irish artist John
Gerrard plus a selection of EAI catalogue ? IFI, Saturday June 24 - 2.45pm
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a leading nonprofit resource for video art
and interactive media. Founded in 1971, EAI's core program is the
distribution and preservation of a major collection of new and historical
media works by artists. EAI also offers educational services, viewing
access, exhibitions and public programs. The Online Catalogue is a
comprehensive resource on the 175 artists and 3,000 works in the EAI
collection. The searchable database includes artists' biographies, QuickTime
excerpts, research materials, artists' Web projects, and online ordering.

Ben Fry received his doctoral degree from the HYPERLINK Aesthetics + Computation
Group at the MIT
Media Laboratory, where his research focused on methods of visualizing large amounts
of data from
dynamic information sources. His current work is split between consulting
and the visualization of genetic data for Eric Lander at the Eli
& Edyth Broad Insitute of MIT & Harvard.

His work has shown at the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and the Cooper Hewitt
Design Triennial in 2003. Other pieces have appeared in the Museum of Modern
Art in New York, at Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria and in the films
?Minority Report? and ?The Hulk.? His information graphics have also
illustrated articles for the journal Nature, New York Magazine, and Seed.
With Casey Reas of UCLA, he is developing Processing, an open source programming
environment for teaching computational design and sketching interactive
media software that won a Golden Nica from the Prix Ars Electronica in 2005.

Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2001, AL and AL have embarked
on a journey into the mysterious heart of technology. Building their own
blue screen special effects studio in the east end of London, AL and AL have
substituted reality with a computer generated simulation. From this blue
screen void AL and AL probe the infinite possibilities this technology
offers and investigate the political, psycho, sexual and mystical
consequences of this seduction. AL and AL perform all the characters,
program all the computer simulations and create all of the sound in order
for the works to contain an authorship which no other computer generated
moving image desires to acquire. AL and AL occupy an innovative space in the
development of this new form and how it may be applied to the language of
contemporary Fine Art. AL and AL have received numerous awards from the
Arts Council England, Channel Four TV, Film London, ACAVA & ACME.

SCREENING::: HEAD TRAUMA by Lance Weiler ? IFI - Sunday 25 June, 2.30pm,
followed by live Q&A with Lance Weiler direct from L.A.
HEAD TRAUMA is the story of George Walker, a down and out transient, who
travels back home after a 20-year absence only to find the house where he
spent his summers, condemned and slated for demolition. George initially
wants to fix up the house and sell it quickly, but after he takes a header,
he begins to experience a series of disturbing nightmares. The nightmares
depict the murder of a girl by a strange hooded figure. Slowly elements from
the nightmares begin to cross over into George?s reality until he comes face
to face with the hooded figure and discovers the true identity of the dead
girl.

Lance Weiler is a critically acclaimed award winning writer/director. His
digital feature, THE LAST BROADCAST , is currently distributed in over 20
countries. It recently finished a run on HBO and is now airing on IFC. Lance
has been featured in Time and Forbes and on television programs such as
Entertainment Tonight and CNN. Wired Magazine called Lance ?One of
twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of
Hollywood.? Currently, Lance is prepping his newest feature entitled HEAD
TRAUMA for distribution. In addition, he is developing a number of
television and film projects.

Ajamia has risked his life in order to bring this story to the world. A
Palestinian girl, 17 years of age, wear?s an explosives belt, she arrives at
a large shopping mall in Israel, but at last minute she decides not to press
the button. How did she manage to persuade a military group to prepare her
for a suicide operation? What lies behind her decision to be suicide bomber?
And what makes her change her mind?

The Filmmaker, Khaled Abu Ajamia, 43, worked as a camera man for local and
international media in Bethlehem until 2002 where he was given an
opportunity to leave his refugee camp. He decided to travel around Europe &
document how Palestinians how were exiled after the siege. Khaled is now
in asylum in Ireland and at risk from both Israel & Palestinians extremists
after making this film.

Violence is widely experienced in our society today. Many people experience
aggression and violence throughout their lives, in schools, growing up, in
the workplace and at home. These experiences lead people to react in many
different ways. In this documentary, Peter McCarthy reacts to his life?s
circumstances. This in turn, leads him on a precarious journey through
Thailand where he explores the world of ring fighting, Thai style. Here he
is faced with some of his greatest fears. ?This true story explores the
experiences of an Irish man from Dublin who through social difficulties
ventures into the world of Muay Thai in Thailand.?

SCREENING::: In This Way (Short) by Andrew Keogh (IRE)
In this Way is a macabre love-story about a deeply traumatized couple trying to
rebuild their
lives in the numbing aftermath of a car crash. Unbeknownst to the husband, however,
his former
surgeon wife is working on an unsettling plan to bring them closer together again.

Produced by Sasha King of Princess Pictures Ltd and Written by Jamie Hannigan and
Directed by
Andrew Keogh.

Andrew Keogh is also a director with Dogmedia Productions who are an independent
film production
collective formed in 2003. Working primarily in digital format, Dogmedia have made
numerous
productions to date including documentaries, short fiction films, radio work, sketch
comedy,
animations and model making and are also involved in live music/visual performances
with two
Dublin-based groups.

In association with the Arts Council?s Critical Voices programme 2006 Darklight are
delighted to
host a public interview with John Thomson, Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
conducted by artist
John Gerrard.

Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is one of the world's leading non-profit resources
for video art
and interactive media. John Thomson has been active in media arts on an
international level since
the 1980s and has been Director of Distribution at EAI since 2000. He is also a
co-director and
founder of Foxy Production, a leading contemporary art gallery in New York. He has
been active in
media arts on an international level since the 1980s. Before moving to New York in
2000, he
researched media art digitization and distribution for the Lux Centre, London. In
1998 he was
Coordinator of Pandaemonium Festival, London, and in 1997 he co-curated the Lux's
inaugural moving
image exhibition program. He has curated media art programs and exhibitions for the
Pacific Film
Archive, Berkeley; the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; Tate Britain, London; The Institute
of
Contemporary Art, London; Exit Art, New York; and Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, among
other venues. He
has lectured in media arts at the London Institute, and the School of Visual Arts,
New York. He
has written for ?Mesh?, Melbourne; ?Art in Culture?, Seoul; and has written on media
art
preservation in ?Art Between Zero and One: A Manual of Digital Art?, Christoph Kehl
and Beat
Raeber, eds., Basel, 2006.

During this interview he will discuss issues surrounding distribution and selling of
moving image
work as well as issues on archiving video, art an animation originating on
computers. We hope this
discussion will trigger some of the topics up for debate at the Darklight Symposium
2007.

John Gerrard is one of Irelands most exciting young artists, amongst other things
his work is
concerned with real time passing and deals with issues of sustainability, longevity
and durability
both thematically and practically.

Interview is followed by a screening of a selection of work from EAI?s catalogue and
archive.
Video Variations: Artists' Experiments with the Video Image
Artists working with video have often manipulated images they have shot or found to
produce new
contexts, meanings, and effects. The works in this
programme re-present original materials in ways that enthral, disturb, and
entertain. They
undermine our expectations of the behaviour of moving
images, placing in relief the elements of contemporary film and TV that we take for
granted:
character, narrative, figure, scene, and tempo. Spanning
four decades, this collection includes work from Steina and Woody Vasulka, Dara
Birnbaum, Peggy
Ahwesh and Shana Moulton.

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